


you too wandered

by seeingrightly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-04 07:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seeingrightly/pseuds/seeingrightly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allison’s always cautious at gas stations these days. Her motions are quick and calculated. She glances over her shoulder every few seconds. She waits with the car door open and her bow in reach. She always picks a station that has attendants visible inside somewhere but preferably no other customers, even though her mom always used to have to remind her to check which station had the lowest prices. That’s not what matters now. Her ability to take down a threat is more important than ten fewer cents a gallon.</p>
<p>Cautious is probably putting it delicately, but that’s what she is. Being kidnapped by your own father while filling up the tank will do that to a girl. It’s more than that, though. She doesn’t like placing her back to the world anymore, doesn’t like being unable to see what’s coming. She is training her other senses, of course, but there’s only so much a human can train to notice. And if she’ll be facing something inhuman, she’s got no chance if she doesn’t see it coming.</p>
<p>Besides, she’s very conscious of other things these days. She knows what spilled gasoline can be responsible for, knows from diagrams what exactly chemical concoctions will do to a werewolf’s biology, knows the smell of burning flesh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you too wandered

**Author's Note:**

  * For [megankelly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/megankelly/gifts).



> Title from Charlene Kaye's "A Million Years".
> 
> This is for the prompt Megan gave me (Allison running into Derek at a gas station) for a Women's History Month female character drabble meme.

Allison’s always cautious at gas stations these days. Her motions are quick and calculated. She glances over her shoulder every few seconds. She waits with the car door open and her bow in reach. She always picks a station that has attendants visible inside somewhere but preferably no other customers, even though her mom always used to have to remind her to check which station had the lowest prices. That’s not what matters now. Her ability to take down a threat is more important than ten fewer cents a gallon.

Cautious is probably putting it delicately, but that’s what she is. Being kidnapped by your own father while filling up the tank will do that to a girl. It’s more than that, though. She doesn’t like placing her back to the world anymore, doesn’t like being unable to see what’s coming. She is training her other senses, of course, but there’s only so much a human can train to notice. And if she’ll be facing something inhuman, she’s got no chance if she doesn’t see it coming.

Besides, she’s very conscious of other things these days. She knows what spilled gasoline can be responsible for, knows from diagrams what exactly chemical concoctions will do to a werewolf’s biology, knows the smell of burning flesh.

She’s quick but careful as she brings the nozzle to her car and wipes her hands on a rag that’s sitting on the dashboard afterwards. Another car pulls into the station and Allison glances up as she settles tensely by her open door.

Derek Hale pulls up to the pump behind Allison’s and she tries to shake away the scent of burning flesh, the sound of her father smashing in Derek’s window. Her father told her about that one recently, just in passing.

Derek clambers out of his car. He’s not looking at her as he sets to filling up his own car, but it doesn’t look as casual as he probably wishes it would. Allison reminds herself to keep alert for things other than the man she’s staring at.

She’s staring at the rising numbers on her own pump, listening closely to see if she can make out the sound of Derek’s breathing the way he can surely hear hers, when he speaks.

“How is Scott?” Derek asks. It’s quiet - just loud enough for human ears.

She glances over, but he’s not looking at her. His shoulders are slumped.

“I don’t know,” Allison replies.

Derek glances over at her, his eyebrows raised. Derek must not have seen Scott at all recently, or else he’d certainly have known they weren’t together. Lydia said that Stiles said it’s all Scott talked about over the summer.

Derek’s shoulders seem to rise. It’s a defensive thing, Allison thinks. It’s a defense against seeming sad. Because it’s the same thing her dad does whenever she mentions her mom. And there’s a brief moment when Allison wants to grab her crossbow and aim it at Derek, a flash of the feeling she had back at the police station months ago, but then the pump lets her know her car is full and it passes.

It’s funny, she thinks as she removes the nozzle, that Derek loves Scott so much. That he loves someone so good, when he’s so… well. Maybe he thinks he’s being good. Maybe he wants to but he doesn’t know how. Maybe he spends too much time feeling flashes of rage about what happened to his family. Maybe he doesn’t have anyone to help snap him out of it, the way Allison did.

Allison thinks maybe if she didn’t have her dad left, she’d be stuck like that too. What was it Kate had said about being a killer? You could surprise yourself?

Allison glances back at Derek as she goes to get back into her car.

Maybe the only big difference between them was that Derek couldn’t hide his claws as easily as Allison could.


End file.
